Travel to Canada on expired H1B

[schat]

Hello,

I am an Indian passport holder and in an uniquely harrowing situation right now wherein my H1B extension was denied and I do not have valid I94 or visa in the US. However I am working with Canadian employers for me to move to Canada on a work permit (provided they can issue me LMIA etc). I've started my EE process but I know that can take long. How can I move to Canada sooner from the US without issues on an expired US visa? My intention is to move to Canada soon and not accrue unlawful presence here. Are there any other quicker ways of doing this? i.e. Visitors visa, Holiday work visa etc?
To summarize, what can I do from the US to ensure that I can enter Canada without CiC issues?
Can someone also provide me processing timelines for each option for Indian citizens in US? For eg. EE PR process - 6-10 months, Work permit - 1 month and so on.

 

[scylla]

Hello,

I am an Indian passport holder and in an uniquely harrowing situation right now wherein my H1B extension was denied and I do not have valid I94 or visa in the US. However I am working with Canadian employers for me to move to Canada on a work permit (provided they can issue me LMIA etc). I've started my EE process but I know that can take long. How can I move to Canada sooner from the US without issues on an expired US visa? My intention is to move to Canada soon and not accrue unlawful presence here. Are there any other quicker ways of doing this? i.e. Visitors visa, Holiday work visa etc?
To summarize, what can I do from the US to ensure that I can enter Canada without CiC issues?
Can someone also provide me processing timelines for each option for Indian citizens in US? For eg. EE PR process - 6-10 months, Work permit - 1 month and so on.

A visitor visa (TRV) would allow you to visit Canada but not move here. If the officer suspects that you are coming here long term, it's possible you could run into issues at the border. So that's not an ideal option. You certainly would not be able to show up with all of your belongings (if you do that - you'll definitely have problems at the border).

Working Holiday Visa isn't really an option. Unfortunately you don't have the right citizenship.

A work permit can take anywhere from 10 or so days to many months to process - unfortunately processing times vary widely. However before you can apply for a work permit, your employer would need to obtain an approved LMIA (unless you qualify under the ICT program). It typically takes 4-6 months to get an approved LMIA.

Your best option may be to return to India and apply from there. If you end up without status in the US it will be difficult to get a work permit or TRV approved.

Express Entry can take anywhere from three months to over a year. Right now you need to have 440+ points to be selected out of the pool and there are a number of activities you have to complete before you can even enter the pool (e.g. get your education assessed, take a language test, etc). Have you completed these steps? Do you know how many points you have?

 

[schat]

I've been in the US for more than ten years and I plan to sell everything I own here (including a house, car etc) and move to Canada with 1 suitcase.
My CRS score is close to 450 (assuming I get a 7 or higher in the IELTS). I haven't taken the IELTS but I've sent my education docs for assessment. The EE application process is apparently easier in the US than India. For instance a police clearance certificate (one of the mandatory documents for EE) has to be from the US in my case. It won't count if it is from India because I haven't lived there. If nothing works out in Canada in the next month, I will have to return to India, but I need to gather all the required documents, finish all such tasks for EE before leaving.

Just so I know the options I should discuss with my potential employers - what is the difference between International Experience program, Federal EE program and Provincial Nominee program and which one would be the quickest? I hold a masters degree in the US, have more than 8 years of Work experience. How can I avoid the 4-6 month LMIA process? I've heard there are skilled labor pools. Are they relevant in my scenario?

 

[scylla]

I've been in the US for more than ten years and I plan to sell everything I own here (including a house, car etc) and move to Canada with 1 suitcase.
My CRS score is close to 450 (assuming I get a 7 or higher in the IELTS). I haven't taken the IELTS but I've sent my education docs for assessment. The EE application process is apparently easier in the US than India. For instance a police clearance certificate (one of the mandatory documents for EE) has to be from the US in my case. It won't count if it is from India because I haven't lived there. If nothing works out in Canada in the next month, I will have to return to India, but I need to gather all the required documents, finish all such tasks for EE before leaving.

Just so I know the options I should discuss with my potential employers - what is the difference between International Experience program, Federal EE program and Provincial Nominee program and which one would be the quickest? I hold a masters degree in the US, have more than 8 years of Work experience. How can I avoid the 4-6 month LMIA process? I've heard there are skilled labor pools. Are they relevant in my scenario?

I would recommend against attempting to move to Canada on a TRV. It's technically not allowed and you'd be risking problems at the border - which could then complicate a work permit application. You don't want to solve one immigration program by creating another.

I would hurry up and book an IELTS test asap. It can take months to get a spot and you can't create a profile for EE without the test results. If you haven't done IELTS yet, you're probably still four months away from being able to create an EE profile and be considered as a candidate. EE is fastest of all the immigration programs. Provincial Nominee programs all seem to take a very very long time these days.

The only real way to avoid the LMIA process is if your employer is able to transfer you here on an Intra Company Transfer (ICT). There are specific requirements that have to be met - the role needs to be specialized and senior. You also must have worked for the company for at least a year in the US and your company must have physical operations in Canada. There are other requirements which you can google. ICT visas can be refused if IRCC feels you don't meet the requirements.

International Experience is a working holiday visa and does not apply to you.

 

[scylla]

Also note that to count what you have in Canada as a 'job offer' and get the 50 points under EE, your employer must get an approved LMIA.

 

[schat]

Okay so from what I understand, I have two options -
1. Job offer plus LMIA approval letter (work permit) - 4 to 6 months
2. EE program (4 months minimum)
Both these timelines won't work for me if I want to travel directly from US to Canada. It seems like there is no option but to return to India. The CiC website says work permit processing time is 15 weeks if done from India and 2 weeks if done from the US. I am guessing that is just one of the many delays if I return to India. Yes I've read those stories on the internet.
My current employer says ICTs are impossible to get without a PR. My potential employer in Canada says a start date in the next month may be possible in my scenario. I don't understand how, but I hope to find out more this week.

 

[scylla]

Okay so from what I understand, I have two options -
1. Job offer plus LMIA approval letter (work permit) - 4 to 6 months
2. EE program (4 months minimum)
Both these timelines won't work for me if I want to travel directly from US to Canada. It seems like there is no option but to return to India. The CiC website says work permit processing time is 15 weeks if done from India and 2 weeks if done from the US. I am guessing that is just one of the many delays if I return to India. Yes I've read those stories on the internet.
My current employer says ICTs are impossible to get without a PR. My potential employer in Canada says a start date in the next month may be possible in my scenario. I don't understand how, but I hope to find out more this week.

Nope - not quite right.

1) LMIA based work permit = 4-6 months for the LMIA + additional time (2 weeks to several months) for the work permit
2) Express Entry = 4 months to get your profile ready + 1-2 months to be selected out of the pool and submit your application + 3-8 months for processing.

There technically an expedited process for LMIAs for highly skilled worker that's supposed to grant the LMIA in 10 days (this is after the required 1 month of advertising the role). However we've seen many on this forum who qualify still wait around four months. So if your employer is going that route, be aware that you might get lucky and only wait 10 days - or it could be much much longer.

Saying that ICTs aren't possible without getting PR makes zero sense. An ICT is a work permit. PRs don't need a work permit to work in Canada.

 

[schat]

Let’s me rephrase my current employers statement - they say their Canadian counterpart (which is apparently a separate entity than the one in US) won’t accept a candidate on a work permit. They only want candidates with a PR.
But the ICT work permit seems like an alternate route and I will mention it to them. Thanks.

The ten day expedited LMIA route seems like what my potential employer is counting on considering the fact that they have a start date next month in mind.

Either way, I shall take the IELTS asap and gather all the required documents for EE from US before I make a move. Thanks for your inputs.

Any ideas about the student permit that could help my case? If worst case scenario presents itself and I have 8 months to kill, wouldn’t I qualify for a student permit if I enroll in a 8 month program?

 

[scylla]

Let’s me rephrase my current employers statement - they say their Canadian counterpart (which is apparently a separate entity than the one in US) won’t accept a candidate on a work permit. They only want candidates with a PR.
But the ICT work permit seems like an alternate route and I will mention it to them. Thanks.

The ten day expedited LMIA route seems like what my potential employer is counting on considering the fact that they have a start date next month in mind.

Either way, I shall take the IELTS asap and gather all the required documents for EE from US before I make a move. Thanks for your inputs.

Any ideas about the student permit that could help my case? If worst case scenario presents itself and I have 8 months to kill, wouldn’t I qualify for a student permit if I enroll in a 8 month program?

OK - the ICT now makes sense.

Note that your employer must advertise your job for at least a month before they can apply for an LMIA. Make sure they advertise according to the specific requirements of the LMIA program or it will end in refusal.

Study permit isn't an option given your timelines. Study permit could be an option if you were asking 2-3 months ago. At this point it's too late to be accepted into a program and get a study permit for the January semester. So you'd be looking at a May start date at the earliest. To be approved for the study permit, your studies in Canada must make sense in light of your previous education and experience. Given you have a Masters, what would make most sense is another Masters or a PhD. An 8 month certificate has a high chance of ending in refusal since it will look like you're just looking to use the study permit as a means of getting to Canada.

 

[canuck78]

Would also mention that US processing times are usually for US citizens so the US processing times will likely be longer for an Indian citizen in the US.